The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team will open its home season Saturday and Sunday with a three-game series against the Emporia State University Hornets.
 
Face coverings and social distancing will be required as the Bearcat Baseball Field in compliance with the city of Maryville's mask ordinance.
 
Emporia State at Northwest Missouri State
Saturday, March 6 | Bearcat Baseball Field | Maryville, Missouri
Game One, 11 a.m. – MIAA NETWORK | LIVE STATS
Game Two, 2 p.m. – MIAA NETWORK | LIVE STATS

Sunday, March 7 | Bearcat Baseball Field | Maryville, Missouri
Game Three, 1 p.m. – MIAA NETWORK | LIVE STATS

Emporia State (2-5 overall, 0-3 MIAA) leads the all-time series with Northwest, 59-39. The Bearcats hold a 17-16 lead in the matchups that have taken place in Maryville. Northwest has swept Emporia State in the regular season series between the two in each of the past two seasons. The only victory for Emporia State over Northwest in the past two years came in the 2018 MIAA Tournament matchup in Warrensburg, Missouri.
 
Northwest (2-4 overall, 1-2 MIAA) is coming off a three-game series at Northeastern State. The Bearcats took the opener, 9-7. However, NSU came back to sweep a doubleheader on Saturday, 7-3 and 9-3.
 
Sophomore Ryan Koski has posted at least two hits in all six games. Koski leads the Bearcats with a .480 batting average, which ranks No. 3 in the MIAA. Koski has 12 hits in 25 at bats. Koski has produced 10 multi-hit games in his collegiate career.

Senior Connor Quick produced a trio of multi-hit games in the series with Northeastern State. Quick batted .500 (7-of-14) and produced five RBI vs. the RiverHawks. Quick has tallied 38 multi-hit games in his three-year Bearcat career. Quick has produced a career batting average of .388 (114 hits, 294 at bats) and a career slugging mark of .565 entering this weekend's games with Emporia State. His .388 career average would rank as the fifth-best total in Bearcat history.
 
Junior Peter Carlson hit a pair of home runs in the three-game set vs. Northeastern State. Carlson has boosted his career total to 14 home runs, putting him three shy of joining Northwest's top-10 home run list. Carlson hit six homers in 2019, four in 2020 and already sits at four home runs through the first six games this season. Carlson leads the Bearcats with eight RBI and a .704 slugging percentage.
 
Junior Jacob Pinkerton is batting .304 with a team-best seven runs scored through the first six games this season. Pinkerton has also drawn a team-high five walks. Pinkerton boasts of a .448 on-base percentage, which trails only Koski's team-high mark of .500.

Junior starters Max Spitzmiller and Spencer Hanson continue to deal for the Bearcats. Spitzmiller notched his 100^th career strikeout in Friday's 9-7 win over Northeastern State. Spitzmiller has pitched a team-high 12 2/3 innings pitched and leads the squad with 17 strikeouts.
 
Hanson is tops on the team with a 2.70 earned run average and also leads the team with a 1.10 WHIP (walk and hits/innings pitched). Hanson has worked 10 innings this season allowing only three hits and three runs. He has struck out 14.
 
Skipper Darin Loe notched victory No. 684 in Friday's 9-7 triumph over Northeastern State. Loe is Northwest's all-time wins leader with 528. Loe is one of five head coaches all-time to reach 500 wins in the MIAA.